Did Randy Shannon, Mark Whipple argue on sideline? No, no, no.

UM coach Randy Shannon said Sunday that he and offensive coordinator Mark Whipple did not engage in an argument during the end of the first half of Saturday’s 40-37 overtime loss to Clemson.
Television cameras showed an upset Whipple yelling after UM called a timeout with 20 seconds remaining in the second quarter. The timeout was the Hurricanes’ last of the first half and may have cost UM a chance at a field goal.

But Shannon said Whipple was mad because “he didn”t have the right personnel on the field.”

“Coach Whipple, he’s emotional on the football field,” Shannon said. “A lot of things happen. The media blows it out of proportion.”

Asked directly if Whipple was shouting at him, Shannon quickly responded, “No, no, no. He was upset he didn’t have the right personnel on the field. That’s all.”

Shannon and former offensive coordinator Patrick Nix famously argued during the end of last season’s Emerald Bowl loss to California. Within 48 hours, Nix was fired.

A few other notes from Shannon’s Sunday news conference:

….Shannon said the extent of linebacker Sean Spence’s left knee injury is not yet known. Spence tried to play with the injury, but coaches pulled him from the game for good in the third quarter. “Don’t know,” Shannon said when asked if Spence’s injury was cause for concern. “He came back, wanted to go back, but I said no. I wasn’t going to do that to a kid. Some people say we have to win at all costs, but that’s not me. I’ll take a loss trying to protcct a kid.”

……Shannon said he would not second guess the decision to run three straight running plays late in the game when UM was trying to run out the clock. Javarris James was unable to pick up a first down and the Hurricanes were forced to punt, allowing Clemson to tie the game on a field goal with five second remaining in regulation. “Why does everybody say that?” Shannon said in response to a question on whether the offensive play-calling was too conservative. ” We’ve killed games before just by running the football. I guess we should just thrown it, huh? We never second-guess what we’re doing on offense and defense. I’m never going to do that. You all [the media] can do that. It doesn’t bother me. But we’ll never second guess our guys.”

…..Alex Uribe’s days as UM’s kickoff specialist may be over, at least for now. Shannon said Uribe “was in another world” against Clemson. Uribe was pulled from the game after he kicked off to C.J. Spiller late in the first half. Spiller returned the kick 90 yards for a touchdown. Shannon wouldn’t say exactly what Uribe should have done on the kick. “Uribe just wasn’t in it,” Shannon said. “[He] wasn’t placing the ball where he was supposed to, wasn’t doing the proper things and it cost us.”

…..The Hurricanes were flagged for 11 penalties against Clemson, including three for offsides. “They drove me crazy,” Shannon said. “Olivier Vernon had two of them. It’s mental. Offsides is mental. When that football moves, you move. Jared Campbell, same thing with him. He’s coming up to blitz. Just look at the football. They’re looking at the quarterback.”

…..Shannon said Saturday’s loss was “probably our worst game, including Virginia Tech.” The loss “was big-time hurt because of how we lost, the things that happened in the game. Now they have to come on back. We have to get them out of it. We’ll see. I think we’ll be fine.”